New Yasunori Mitsuda album announced... featuring Masashi Hamauzu!
 

While I know this forum isn't exactly Yasunori Mitsuda mad, I thought most of you would be interested to know that he is releasing a new arranged album, featuring piano arrangements of compositions from Sailing to the World, which is featuring arrangements from Masashi Hamauzu! A sheet music book will also be released. Naoko Endo, from Piano Pieces "SF2" ~ Rhapsody on a Theme of SaGa Frontier 2, will be performing.

Personally, I'm definitely looking forward to this. It could be the natural successor to the Final Fantasy X Piano Collections with Hamauzu's involvement and the original material it will be based on is actually rather strong. Though, I have to ask... Why does SE let Masashi Hamauzu arrange UNLIMITED: SaGa one day? That'd be so awesome. Anyway... discuss! More details here for the Japanese dudes.

This is a sheet music book with a CD, not the contrary :poke:

As a Hamauzu fan, I'm really looking forward to it. In fact, I also like Sailing to the World... how will it sound on piano?

That site doesnt help at all. I couldn read kanji... anyway, does this cd contain only of Mitsuda's compositions? or perhaps there are compositions done by different composers arranged by hamauzu?

Sweet. :)
It would be cool if Hamauzu arranged his music from Unlimited SaGa.

As a Mitsuda fan, I rejoice. As someone who finds Hamauzu very hit and miss, I deplore.

I can see this being excellent--Sailing to the World is, after all, a stellar composition. On the other hand, I can see it being tiresome if Hamauzu decides to do his virtuoso thing and do the piano equivalent of a wailing guitar interlude.

Official Outlook: Cautious Optomism

This is coming out April 1st, right? With such strong material and a strong piano arranger, this simply cannot fail.

*fingers crossed*

EDIT: What if Mitsuda is just pulling an April Fools joke, LoL.

Mitsuda + Hamauzu? Can't wait...

I'm more looking forward to this album as THE biggest Hamauzu fan out there. Sailing to the World was an alright album, but I'm more interested in hearing Hamauzu's jazzy and impressionistic take on Mitsuda's music.

Should be very interesting indeed.

As exciting as this sounds whatever happened to the Chrono Cross arranged that was said to be in the works?

This I am really looking forward to! I am a total Mitsuda Fan!

Regarding the Chrono Cross arranged album, I asked a question about this in SquareSound's interview with him. The response:

Oh, and Eriol, I realized that the link wouldn't help much, but considering I don't read Japanese myself, I thought someone might get some use out of it. Lucky Zanasea came to the rescue!!

Quality over quantity, that proves he's a dedicated composer.:) Btw I was surprised when I saw his face, I thought he would be some kinda of heavy bearded middle aged man. But hey, he's still young and fresh actually. lol.

How I wish Hamauzu will do arrangement for Chrono Trigger theme! (surrealistic dream)

Mitsuda fan, Hamauzu fan... *not* particularly thrilled with Sailing to the World, however, so I'm gonna sit back and wait to see how this turns out.

Thank you for the news.
As Mitsuda-mad, I'm definately going to check this out, although I don't think it will turn out as something big, like Kirite.

Blech, I *hope* it's not like Kirite. If there's any Japanese singing on *this* album, heads will roll.

I am absolutely excited about this!!! Hamauzu has always excelled in piano arrangement, and since I happen to enjoy the music from Sailing to the World, there can be no mistakes here. I am confident that Hamauzu will deliver some great work :D!

is this an arrange album of an arrange album? I love Mitsuda, but this seems a bit ridiculous. When are we going to get some new music? Kirite was OK, and I am looking foward to the Chrono Cross arranged album, but I just want something new and fresh. Is that too much to ask for?

It's an arrange album of an album. If I'm correct, then this album will be the first arranged album of Sailing to the World.

Personally, I think Hamauzu should start arranging more of his own work, because his work is meant for variations (SaGa Frontier II anyone?).

Yeah, Sailing to the World was an original album for The Seventh Seal. Though Mitsuda does seem to be shying away from making a full-blown, solo game soundtrack nowadays...he's recently been mostly a contributor/co-composer. There was Hako no niwa, but that was a large disappointment for me. I wonder when we will see another full score from him.

That said, any Mitsuda tends to be OK with me, so I'm looking forward to this.

Hako no Niwa was by far his most creative work to date. It features music styles that Mitsuda had never written before. To me that is your "new and fresh" element. However, the music for Hako no Niwa is quite an acquired taste. You either like it or you don't. In terms of creativity and musicality, the soundtrack excelled. It is quite different than the average celtic tunes from Mitsuda. But don't get me wrong, I love his celtic-inspired work, too. I'm currently hooked on his arrangement of Theme of Rogue Galaxy from the Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange.

I liked Hako no Niwa too. Original, and a fun score. Some tracks are addictive to me as well, such as The Smug Gentleman. *plays the track*

As for the actual topic of this thread, it definitely sounds interesting. I acquired Sailing to the World a few days ago, and found it quite nice. Probably worthy of a few more listens in the near future.

I'm not as familiar with Hamauzu as I am with Mitsuda, but I do enjoy what I've heard from him (and the SaGa Frontier II OST is excellent). Add me to the list of people expecting nice things. :)

Ehh, maybe.. While I agree that his work would be great for variations, I don't know if I'd want to hear him arranging his own music. Maybe some other artists, though.

Quoted for truth. Certainly the most original thing to come from Mitsuda in years.

I wasn't terribly impressed by Sailing to the World, though. As a stand alone album, it wasn't quite as good as Kirite, which was excellent.

I'd have to agree that Hako no Niwa is one of the finest Mitsuda albums; my review pretty much sums it up.

Sailing to the World is too eclectic for some people, I think; aside from the horrible song, it actually has a lot of melodic content and was just about the only original stuff from Mitsuda for some time. And it was better than Kirite by default, since it has less singing.

I do wonder, reading all these posts, why Mitsude doesn't do, well, *more*. Most of his recent work has been obscure if it's original. The man really needs to attach himself to a franchise and ride it for awhile, if only to generate more gåmëmüsîk.

what is Hako no Niwa? I've never heard of it